Ranchi, Feb. 1: Flying Air India has now become more cost-effective with special fares being announced.

A married couple can now travel J-class (business class) and enjoy all the comfort on offer by paying the price of just one ticket.

This facility would also enable them to stay in any Taj Group hotel for one night without paying anything extra. Only the airport tax payable to the Airports Authority of India of Rs 225 would be charged. However, this scheme is offered only on Ranchi-Delhi and Ranchi-Mumbai routes and not on others.

For Y-class (economy class) passengers, the airline has announced low fares — under zip fare scheme — of only Rs 3,024 for Delhi and Mumbai. On normal days, the lowest priced ticket is available at Rs 6,500 for Delhi and Rs 7,500 for Mumbai.

A corporate super-saver scheme has also been launched. Under this scheme, 12 coupons for only Rs 1.19 lakh would be offered in the economy class. This will lead to savings of Rs 6,097 for each coupon. At present, the ticket to Delhi costs Rs 19,882 and to Mumbai it is available at Rs 22,740.

Now the passengers will not have to suffer heavy losses in case they change their programme and cancel the tickets. Instead, they can pay Rs 500 and get fresh ticket without suffering a major loss. With Air India announcing wide-ranging cuts on airfare as also other facilities, the airlines has seen a rise in occupancy rates in their flights originating from Ranchi.

The attractive and affordable schemes designed to suit the pockets of larger sections of the society has led to Air India reporting almost full flight on most days of the week.

Birsa Munda Airport station manager Pramod Bhuyian is quite happy over the result of the new schemes the airlines had launched recently. There had been marked improvement in the occupancy rates, which had gone up from 70 per cent to 90 per cent.

These dream schemes, however, were only designed for the lean season of February and they would surely help and encourage more people to travel by air.